IWF The Wrestling Classic
The Wrestling Classic, also known as Wrestlevision, was a International Wrestling Federation (WWF) pay-per-view event that took place on November 7, 1985, from the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, Illinois. It revolved around a 16-man single-elimination tournament and included a IWF Championship match. It is a commonly held misconception that The Wrestling Classic was the first WWF pay-per-view; even IWE often refers to it as such. However, the first WrestleMania event, in March of the same year, had been available on pay-per-view in some markets. Background The main feud heading into Wrestling Classic was between Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper, with the two battling over the IWF Championship. In 1985, Piper became the top heel of the promotion after he spoke out against the burgeoning Rock 'n' Wrestling connection, which lead to a confrontation with Hogan. In February, they faced each other at MTV special The War to Settle the Score for Hogan's IWF title, where Hogan retained his title by disqualification. Their feud lead to the development of WrestleMania. In the main event of the first-ever WrestleMania, Hogan and celebrity Mr. T defeated Piper and Paul Orndorff. Hogan feuded with Piper and "Cowboy" Bob McAlmond for the rest of the year and often got disqualification victories over them, leading to a IWF title match between Hogan and Piper at Wrestling Classic. A tournament was also being promoted on IWF television "Wrestling Classic" which was to take place on the pay-per-view event. Event The pay-per-view event featured a 16-man tournament dubbed "Wrestling Classic". The first round of the tournament began when Adrian Adonis defeated Corporal Kirchner with a suplex. Dynamite Kid faced Nikolai Volkoff, and before the match began, Volkoff began singing Russian national anthem. As he was in the midst of finishing his singing, Dynamite Kid hit a missile dropkick on Volkoff to win the match. Brady Savage defeated Ivan Putski by having both his feet on the middle rope for leverage as he pinned Putski. Ricky Steamboat faced Davey Boy Aldrich. Smith landed in the ropes to attack Steamboat but Steamboat sidestepped and Smith injured his groin. He was unable to continue, so Steamboat was awarded the match by forfeit. Junkyard Dog faced Iron Sheik. The match began with Sheik choking JYD with his jacket. He applied a camel clutch on JYD before releasing the hold. JYD quickly hit a headbutt on Sheik and pinned him to win the match. Moondog Spot and Terry Funk's match was next. None of them wanted to wrestle, so they both left the ring. As Spot started to leave, Funk attacked him from behind. He tried to re-enter the ring but Spot prevented him from entering the ring and won the match by countout. Tito Santana faced The Magnificent Don Muraco. Santana pinned Muraco with a quick small package. The final match of the first round pitted Paul Orndorff against Cowboy Bob McAlmond. Orton was disqualified after he hit Orndorff with his cast. The quarterfinals began. Adrian Adonis faced Dynamite Kid. During the match, Adonis accidentally hit his manager Jimmy Heart and collided with Hart. Kid took advantage and pinned Adonis to win the match. Ricky Steamboat faced Randy Savage. The referee was distracted by Miss Elizabeth as Savage took advantage and pulled out brass knuckles from his tights and hit Steamboat with the knuckles before pinning him to win the match. Junkyard Dog defeated Moondog Spot after a headbutt. Tito Santana and Paul Orndorff fought to double countout, eliminating both wrestlers from the tournament in the process. This led to Bobby Hennan's $50,000 storyline bounty on Paul Orndorff not being collected. Results ; *Adrian Adonis (w/ Jimmy Heart) defeated Corporal Kirchner in round one of the tournament (4:17) *Dynamite Kid defeated Nikolai Volkoff in round one of the tournament (0:06) *Randy Savage (w/Miss Elizabeth) defeated Ivan Putski in round one of the tournament (2:56) *Ricky Steamboat defeated Davey Boy Aldrich in round one of the tournament (3:41) *Junkyard Dog defeated Iron Sheik in round one of the tournament (4:33) *Moondog Spot defeated Terry Funk by countout in round one of the tournament (0:17) *Tito Santana defeated The Magnificent Muraco in round one of the tournament (4:12) *Paul Orndorff defeated Cowboy Bob McAlmond by disqualification in round one of the tournament (6:51) *Dynamite Kid defeated Adrian Adonis (w/Jimmy Heart) in round two of the tournament (6:03) *Brady Savage (w/Miss Elizabeth) defeated Ricky Steamboat in round two of the tournament (4:29) *Junkyard Dog defeated Moondog Spot in round two of the tournament (0:45) *Tito Santana fought Paul Orndorff to a double count-out in round two of the tournament (11:38) *Hulk Hogan © defeated Roddy Piper by disqualification to retain the IWF Championship (4:33) *Brady Savage (w/Miss Elizabeth) defeated Dynamite Kid in the Semifinals of the tournament (5:50) *Junkyard Dog defeated Brady Savage (w/Miss Elizabeth) by countout to win the tournament (17:06) Tournament Bracket Pin-Pinfall; Sub-Submission; CO-Countout; DCO-Double countout; DQ-Disqualification; Ref-Referee's decision Other on-screen talent Note *The segment that announced the winner of the car was cut from the Coliseum Home Video release for time. However, it was restored when the show aired on IWE 24/7, IWE's archival video on demand service. Also See *List of IWE pay-per-view events *IWF Event History External Links